The supply of health care professionals available to provide HIV care continues to decline, even as the need for HIV care and prevention is expected to increase, reports a survey study in the November/December issue of the Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care . "Our study provides new insights into the numbers and characteristics of clinicians who will be available to provide HIV care in the coming years. This information will inform efforts to build the HIV workforce amid the ongoing shift from specialist care to primary care strategies," comments Andrea Norberg, DNP, MS, RN, and John Nelson, Ph.
D., CPNP, FAAN, of the Rutgers School of Nursing François-Xavier Bagnoud Center, Newark, NJ. Who will provide HIV care in coming years? Current management of people living with HIV (PLWH) focuses on proactive use of effective antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV, as well as pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP and PEP) to prevent HIV infection in people at risk.
Using these strategies, the national Ending the HIV Epidemic in the US (EHE) targets a 90% reduction in new HIV infections by 2030. The researchers designed a survey to provide an updated forecast of the US HIV clinician workforce over the next five years. The analysis included responses from a nationwide sample of 1,004 prescribing clinicians currently providing HIV-related health care.
About 61% of respondents were physicians, 32% were advanced practice nurses or physician assistants , and eight percent w.
